Pencil-printing press



Aug. 9 1927.

F. RABUS PENCIL PRINTING PRESS 6 Sheets- Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 27, 1925Que-mug Aug. 9, 1927. 1,638,127

'G, F. RABUS PENCIL- RRINTING PRESS Filed Nov. 27, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 2Aug. 9, 1927.

1,638,127 F. RA BU$ v PENCIL PRINTING PRESS Filed Nov. 27.1925 6Sheets-Sheet 5 Ail 9, 1927. 1,638,127

a. F. RABUS I PENCIL PRINTING PRESS' Filed Nov. 27. 1925 f 6Sheets-Shoot 4 Q 1 I I 1 w :2 F 5 jf' i l s N I In I Q 0 I. Q a I g v mI N M l g I I 1 I ,I II

Q a mfiaww Aug. 9 1927.,

G. F. RABUS PENCIL PRINTING PRESS Filed Nov 27, 1925 6 Sheets-Shut 5Aug. 9,1927} I 1,638,127

7 G. F. RABUS v PENCIL'PRINTING PRESS Filed Nov. .7, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet5 iii) Patented Aug. 9, 1927.

'- UNITED STATE GEORGE FREDERICK RABUS, or CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa.

PENCIL-PRINTING PRESS.

Application filed November to produce a mechanism adapted cally toselect individual pencils supply magazine and to present printing withabsolute accuracy formity, whereby the printing lines are alwaysdisposed centrally and accurately on the respective panels of thepencils.

The invention is fully disclosed in the description and claimsfollowing, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which 1is a side elevation of a printing press embodying the invention, as seenfrom the standpoint of the operator. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevationfrom the opposite side of the machine, showing the mechanism foractuating the pencil delivering device. Fig. 3 is a similar view showingmechanism for actuating the pencil conveyor. Fig. 4 is an elevation ofthe press as seen from the left end of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is an elevation,similar in the main to Fig. l, partly sectional, and showing themechanism within the main frame as it would be seen with the front sideof the frame removed. Fig. 6 is a cross section of the press, mainlycentral to the pencil chuck, and as seen from the right of Fig. 1. Fig.6 is a detail view of the Geneva movement for the chucks, taken inthe-plane of. the line 6 -6" of Fig. 6, looking toward the left. Fig. 7is a view in perspective, showing the-mechanism for taking the pencilfrom its chucks and delivering it to the printing point. Fig. 8is. abirds-eye viewrshowing the. mechanism thatappears in Fig. 7 and also adevice for holding the pencil securely at the printing point. Fig. 9 isa birds-eye view of the platen and connected mechanism, partly insection. Fig. 10 is a view in perspective illustrating an improved stoolfor supporting the rubber type used in this class'of printing. V

The machine as a Whole includes many features familiar in printing art,but in The quence.

27, 1925. Serial No. 71,543.

orderto a clear understanding of the. press, and especially its novelfeatures, the whole mechanism will be described briefly as follows: v I

In the drawing. 5 denotes the main frame, composed of a pair of similaruprights suit ably connected by crossbars 6, one of which. appears inFig. 4. Journaled in these uprightsis the principal driving shaft 7carrying a pulley 8 adapted for connection with an electric motor notshown. A pinion 9 engages a spur gear 1.0, acting as an'idler, andtothis is connected another-pinion 11 meshing with a gear 12' forming apart of an, assembly connecting with the main shaft of the press 13.This shaft carries two main cams 1-4 and 15, and these transmit motionintermittently to rocker arms 16 and 17, respectively, for purposeswhich will be explained presently, At the top of the .main frameseparate inking rolls 18 and 19 are mounted at opposite ends, andcooperate with distributing rolls 20 in a familiar way. In. practice theoperatorapplies a dab of ink directly to the large roll, and anautomatic inkingfountain is not actually neces sary, though the same issupplied tothe press as actually constructed, butv not illus tratedherein. It is to be understood that the separate inking devices are forthe purposes of printing in separate colors, for

large ink-rolls are driven by gears 12 and idlers 12 engaging the gear12.

On. a cross-shaft 21 is mountedv rockably the arm 16 carrying a roller16 engaging the caml4t. To the upper end of this arm is connected a pairof links 22 and 23. These engage levers 24: and 25, respectively, whichare mounted onthe respective cross-shafts 26 and 27 These levers, whichare disposed ontheir carrying shafts in pairs, serve as supports forinking rolls 28 and 29. adapted to engage the ink distributing rolls atone extreme of movement. and to alternately ink the type when carried totheother extreme.

At this point it may be said that while the apparatus herein describedis adapted to perform its various functions, no special attempthas been.made to show the mechanism in the exact positions necessaryto the whichthe press is specially adapted. The

performance ofsaid functions in due se- This of course is merely amatter of adplstment, and in considering the oper ations of the machinea description of the 37 secured to the frame.

sequence of operations is to be considered rather than the illustrationsin the drawings.

Between the two side frames is mounted the platen bed-plate 30.- Thiscarries the sliding platen 31, to which a reciprocating motion isimparted by a sectorgear 32 mountedrockably on the shaft 21', andengaging a rack 33 on the under side of the platen. The sector gear bysegmental gear 34 connects with the arm 17 and this, by its roller 17,engages the cam 15. A'continuous, but reciprocating motion, is'thusimparted to the platen.

The special apparatus whereby a pencil A isbrought into printingconnection with the printing mechanism above described will now be setforth in detail.

In the upper, central portion of the frame is mounted a bearing yoke 35,which forms the inner bearings for pencil. supporting spindles to bedescribed presently. The outboard bearings 36 are carried in, bracketarms Both the yoke and out-board bearings are mounted to move a limiteddistance up and down, downward pressure being brought to bear upon theThe chucks at have enlargements to en.

yoke by springs 38, for the purpose Which will be described later. Thesupport for the outboard bearing is sufficiently flexible to allow forall the movement required at those points. The pencil-holding spindleassembly comprises a group of units described as follows: Mountedslidably in the bearings arev sleeves 39 carrying chuck plungers 40.These at. their inner ends 40, are divided into six segments and arereduced at 40" so to render the chuck fingers slightly flexible.

gage the constricted throats 33 of the sleeves. As the chucks retreatoutwardly the chuck fingers expand automatically, and the oppositemovement tends to press them together so as to grasp the six sides ofthe pencil as inserted in them. Movement in both directions is efl'ectedby means of large cam wheels 41 and 42 carried by the main shaft. Thechuck spindles are provided with rollers 43 rotatable thereon whichrollers engage grooves in the cam wheels, as shown. By this means thechuck spindles are simultaneously withdrawn to admit the ends of thepencils between them,,and are thrust inwardly to engage the pencil andto grip it tightly at both ends. Each spindle is bored centrally fromend to end and in.

the bore is mounted a stationary rod 44 carried at the outer end by theout-board bracket as described. These rods serve to engage the ends ofthe pencil. as the chucks are withdrawn, and prevent its being caught byeither end when it is desired to drop the same. In the case of theclutch spindle which connects with the end of the pencil carrying therubber tip, the in and out motion is about double that of the otherspindle, since it is necessary for the clutch to engage the body of thepencil at a point beyond the rubber tipped thimble. It is alsodesirable, in order to give proper support to this chuck, that thesleeve should also travel inwardly with the chuck. but needs to moveonly about half the distance. This. as herein shown is effected by meansof a. separate roller to operating in a cam groove 45 The various camrollers are connected with collars which on their under sides rest onthe curved surface of the cam wheels, and are ,thus prevented fromturning. Within these collars the spindles and sleeves are free torevolve. made to revolve concurrently. The revolution of the spindle isnecessarily intermittent. so as to give time for other movements in theoperation of the press. To secure thisintermittent HIOVGHIGHL L110stoves carry pin.

teeth of the interrupted gear. so that when. he shoe reaches this gapthe gear may en spindle. in a familiar way.

A bridge 50 ca rried by the frame supports a hopper-like magazine 51 tocarry a supply of pencils disposed endwise therein. The lower opening ofthis hopper terminates in gage with the pinion thus revolve the i a pairof guide-ways 51 at each end to carry the ends of the pencils as theymove down wardly in single, hie. In. this downward movement the row ofpencils is arrested by an 'a 'iement 52. This comprises a depending ,andswinging device embracing the .guide-ways and provided at its innersides with nnvardly PI'OJQCUDQ; teeth 52 and 52* disposed in oppositeand staggered relation to each other. It will be evident that in onevpositioi'i the tooth 52* will catch and hold the row of pencils. andthe escapement swings to the opposite position this pencil will drop tothe lower tooth 52 and thus the pencils will be delivered singly an dsnocessively to the bottom of the guide way. At this point they arecaught by a cross-plate 52 and between it and the other memberof theguide-way the pencil may pass out lat orally tl'irough a gap 52". As thepencil. is moved in this direction each .end engages a notch 59. in theescapement, which serves to arrest its outward movement. and-alsoserves. as the pencil moves laterally. to shift the .es'capemein to its.opposite position.

The pencil is transferred from its'position in the escapement to thefinal position for cn jageincnt with the clutches by a pair of grippers53 attached to a rock-shaft 54, to

The sleeves and spindles are iii h ll] llu which a rocking movement isimparted from the rocleshaft 26 by short lever connecting by a link 56with another lever 57 attached to the rockshaft 541. In its backwardmovement- .the head of'the gripper engages a roller 52 and thus movesthe escapementto the position shown in Fig. 7. As it moves in theopposite direction its beak engages the body of the pencil by its flatsides. This engagement is made effective for all sizes of pencils, thediameters of which vary considerably, by making one jaw of the gripper.53 movable as indicated and providingit with a spring 53 adapted toclose the beak so as to grasp the smallest size of pencil.

In practice the grasp of this beak on the pencil is always by its flat.sides, so that when the pencil is finally delivered to the clutchspindles it is always in one position considered circumferentially. Thisposition corresponds exactly with the position of the spindle at thattime, so that the jaws of the clutches exactly coincide with the flatsides of the pencil. Once grasped by the clutch spindles the revolutionof the pencil in the subsequent operation of printing will always beuniform, and this is exactly timed to correspond with the reciprocatingmovement of the platen in the act of printing. It willbe evidenttherefore that by so adjusting the this keeper is actuatedintermittently by a cam 60 cooperating with a short lever '61 and aspring 62. The cam itself may be simply a ring forming a part-of the camwheel assembly above described with a gap therein shown in Fig. 8 topermit the rock-shaft to carry the keeper to the holding positionthrough the tension of the spring/62. As

the cam engages the lever 61 the keeper-is thrown to initial position,as will be evident. The rock-shaft itself 1S carried in bearings 35 and35 of the yoke 35. A hole 5 large enough to admit of a little play'ofthe rockshaft is formed in the main frame through which the rock-shaftpasses. The main purpose of this keeper is to provide for the accuratepositioning on the printing type of pencils which are not straight orare otherwise somewhat distorted. The tension of the spring issufficient to correct these inequalities of the pencils and so insureplain and correct printing,

f eating lever 73 and a link 74.

Aside from their function of delivering In the bed-plate which carriesthe platen is set a pair of racks '63, which are traversed by acorresponding pair of pinions 64 carried by a shaft 65 jo'urnaled intheplaten, as best shown in Fig. 9. These pinions also engage a pair ofrails 66, which are formed as racks on their under side. The rails aremounted slidably in guides 67 of the platen, and it will be evidentthatas theplaten reciprocates these rails will be moved twice as far endwiseas the platen. This allows for suliicientforward movement of the railsto enable them to carry the pencil when printed to the final dischargingposition. It will be understood that when printed the chucks release itanddrop it as they retreat on the top of these rails and at a point'intheir retreating movement coinciding with shoulders 66 near the deliveryends thereof. Re-

ferring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that this discharging positioncoincides with discharge plates 68 carried bythepress frame and theirinclined rearward faces are directed toward a pencil conveyor 69; Alittle upstanding shoulder 68" on each of these catchplates prevents theretreat of the. pencil, which thence falls and slides to the conveyor.

lllhelatter comprises a pair of endless chains (one of which pairis'shown) carried by sprockets '1' O and 71. to which intermittent forwardmovement isimparted by means of a ratchet and pawl 72-actuated by areciprothe pencil from the printing positionto the discl'iargingposition, these rails-also serve the important purpose of supporting'thcpencil holding chucks at an accurateand determinate level regardless ofthe side of the pencil held by said chucks. It will be noted that theends of the chucks rest on these rails Figs. 5 and 9), and support themagainst the tension of the yoke-pressing springs. The object of this istobriug the printing face of the pencil always to a precise level withrespect to the printing face of the type. If all pencils wereexactlyuniform, both in size and in the diameter of cross panels (that is tosay, exactly sviumetrical in section), it would not be necesiii sar-v tomove the chucks from a continuous.

position axially. This-device takes care of these variations however,and insuresthat the printing faceof the pencil shall always exactlycoincide with the level of the type face thus insuring clean, sharp andaccurate printing impressions; The slight elas tic-it of" the-separatejaws of the chucks takes care of the irregularities in the .dianietersof different pencils, yielding vertica-llv as the chuck-spindles rollover the supporting surfaces of the pencil carrying rails.

For printing in plural colors,-for which the pres is especiallydesigned, the platen is provided with a pair of type-supporting vmentduring the printing operation.

84 in the side of the stool.

plates75 supported by springs 76,'one at each corner. Screws 77extending through these lates and through the supports, permit anydesired movement of the plates in order to secure an exact leveling ofthe type carried thereby. The type itself is a strip of rubber type 78,and is best attached to its support by an adhesive. The mainsupport ofthe type above the plates is a stool-79, best shown in Fig. 10 which isattached to the supporting plate by a clamp 80. To facilitate theadjustment of the type on its support, a removable plate is provided forthe stool, as shown in Fig. 10. This comprises a thin flat plate 81,provided with depending studs 82 seated in corresponding holes in thestools. The studs are held frictionally in position by the pressure ofside springs 83 having contact therewith through holes The plates arethus held frictionally in proper position, and are easily removable bythe operator for attachment or adjustment of the type.

The pencils as disposed in the hopper-likc magazine fall through thegap'at the bottom by gravity, and thence through their race ways to thegripping position. To arrest any possible tendency of the pencils toclog in the magazine, the later is provided with agitators8t rarried' bya rock-shaft 85, to which recil'irocating movement is given by therock-shaft which actuates the grippers, a short crank 86 and aconnecting link 87. This keeps the pencils stirred sufficiently toinsure their dropping regularly into their final guide-ways in a regularand continuous series.

The operation of the press will be clear from the foregoing description,the sequence of operations being as follows: As above described theplaten moves back and forth continuously. In the course of this movementthe type carried by the platen is inked by the respective inkingrollers, which are depressed alternately to make the contact. When thetype is in position to pre sentthe first line to the first printingsurface of the pencil, the pencil-carrying chuck-spindies begin torevolve exactly in unison with the movement of the platen. Prior to thismovement the pencil grippers have rocked the escapements to release asingle pencil, have then moved the pencil to the printing position. andthe pencil-holding finger intermediate of the chucks has moved to itsposition for holding the pencil in exact align The revolution of thepencil holding spindles is continued until the entire printing has beendone in both. colors, the platen moving toward the forward end of thepress, which is at the left in Fig. 1. The pencil-carrying rails havethen reached the point where they may receive the pencil as dropped ontheir forward ends, at which point the chucks cease to rotate and arewithdrawn from the v A reverse motion of the plate carries the pencil toits discharge poends of the pencil.

sition, where it is received by the conveyor.

Having thus described my invention, .I

claim 1. In a. pencil printing press, a movable platen to carry thetype, inking means therefor, endwise movable chucks, adapted to r0- tateintermittently in time with the platen movement, a. pencil supplyingmagazine,

means adapted to transfer a pencil from the magazine to the printingposition, and actu I termittently rotating chucks to hold the pen-.

cil positively with respect to its printing faces, and a platen carryingthe printing type and moving in unison with the revolution of thepencil. v

3. In a pencil printing press, having actuating mechanism substantiallyas described, a continuously moving type carrying platen, a pencilmagazine adapted for delivery of pencils in a row, means fortransferring a single pencil from the magazine to the printing position,chucks adapted to receive the ends of the pencil at such position andhold it positively, and movable in and out of the path of the pencil astrans-' ferred,

4-. In a pencil printing press, a continuously moving platen, a pencilholding magazine, an escapement therefor adapted to dehver the pencilssingly, grippers adapted to hold'the pencil by its flat sides andtransfer it to the printing position from the magazine, and

chucks positioned normally in register with the pencil as delivered totheprinting' position, and means adapted to rotate the chucks in unisonwith the movement of the platen.

5. In a pencil printing press, a movable platen, a pencil-holdingmagazine, an escape ment therefor adapted to deliver the pencils singly,rocking grippers adapted to move the escapement to and fro and carry thepencil by its flat sides to printing position, chucks movable in and outof the path of the pencil, and normally in register with the pencil atits printing position, and means adapted to rotate the pencil in unisonwith the movement of the platen. 6, In a pencil printing presspa movableplaten,'pencil holding chucks, intermittently rotatable, apencil-holding magazine, grip pers adapted to transfer a single penciltherefrom to printing position, and an intermediately disposed fingeradapted to hold the pencil in printing alignment.

platen, pencil holding chucks, intermittently rotatable, apencil-holding magazine, grip pers adapted to transfer a single penciltherefrom to printing position, and an interposed position, chucks tohold the pencil in posrtive rotative printing position with respect tothe type face, and means to actuate said chucks intermittently.

9. A pencil printing press provided with chuck having'elastic grippingjaws adapted to engage the flat sides of the pencil, and a movableplaten having rails adapted to carry said jaws at a definite level withrespect to the type face.

10. A pencil printing press provided with pencil gripping clutches,bearings therefor adapted to moveito and fro with respect to theprinting level, a platen movable across the pencil as carried by theclutches, and rails movable on said platen as adapted to carry the endsof the clutches, whereby the side of the pencil to be printed ispresented to the type face at a definite and uniform level. j

11. A printing press for pencils having chucks movable elastically withrespect to the printing level, a platen movable transversely thereof,and rails carried by said platen and carrying the pencil-holding ends ofthe chucks, the jaws of the chucks being elastic, whereby the face ofthe pencil exposedto the type face is held at a definite levelregardless of inequalities in the pencil sectionally.

12. A pencil printing press having intermittentlyrotating pencil holdingchucks, a

sleeve for the tip end holding chuck, endthrust cams adapted to move thechuck and sleeves separately endwise, a movable platen,

and cooperating printing mechanism.

13. In a pencil printing press, pencil-holding chucks adapted to engageand disengage the ends of the pencil, and centrally dis posed stopsadapted to engage the ends of r the pencil as the chucks retreat.

14. In a pencil printing press, pencilholding means, a movableplaten-for operating therewith, rails carried by the platen andmovable'thereon, said rails being adapted to carry the printed pencilfrom the printing position and deliver it to a discharging position.

A- pencil printing press having pencil holding cl1ucks, a pencilconveyor, a platen movable crosswise of the chucks, and pencil carryingrails movable on said platen, to 'deliver the printed pencil to saidconveyor.

7 In testimony whereof I'aflix my signature.

stones FREDERICK RABUS.

